Canon Shooters: Wet and Freezing Environments; the Right Body?

I am spending a month in Antarctica - January 2010. Currently I have a 1D3 and a 40D.

"Yesterday's plan" was to replace my 40D with the 5D3 hopefully released prior to my trip; if not I would purchase the 5D2 as I want one full sensor body. I was not purchasing the 5D2 for the video abilities; that is an insignificant "extra" - a toy. I wanted the full sensor for landscape photography.

The reason I say "yesterday's plan" and not "today's plan" results from two reviews of the 5D2 in Luminous Landscape commenting on the 5D2’s moisture resistance abilities; it sucked!

Chris Sanderson, Luminous Landscape's producer of their instructional videos wrote in February 2009:

"Sad to say, this story was truncated prematurely: the 5Dii 'died' in the field after moisture exposure. I was not the only one to have similar moisture–related problems on our Antarctica trip. Out of 26 5Dii's on Michael's Antarctic expedition, fully 25% failed. The camera is certainly not waterproof. Canon says just that in the manual. But it would be good if it were moisture–proof or even resistant. It does not appear to be.

Precautions were taken against rain & moisture that were reasonable – but to no avail. In fact, two of the 5Dii's that died were used inside waterproof Kata bags – and they died within a minute of each other out on location. My guess is that condensation was the culprit in almost all cases – mine died in the cabin an hour or so after exposure on the third day of the trip. I believed that the temperature shift between outside & inside that day was slight enough not to worry about condensation and interestingly, the temperature extremes were quite modest: from a mild +5 C to normal inside +20 C. Perhaps it was simply body heat and moisture build up from damp hands. Should my 5Dii have been the sole failure, I would have put the cause down to 'User Error' but the fact that the failures occurred in such a high proportion from a reasonably large sample suggests a fundamental weakness in the camera build or a production problem.

Some of the failed cameras returned to life following the normal treatment in such cases: remove lens, CF card, battery & vertical grip; leave open to dry air and pray. If that does not work, then the judicious application of heat from a hair dryer inside a pillow case. For many this treatment worked but for my 5Dii and at least one other, it did not. Fortunately, I had been able to use the camera (loaned from Canon Canada) for a few days – not really long enough but just sufficient to make some reasonable observations." http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...iivid_cs.shtml

Nick Devlin wrote in March 2009:

“While a relatively large number of them developed problems on the Antarctic trip, this is a function of weather-sealing (or the lack thereof). With one exception, all of the 5DIIs that died did so after being exposed to conditions in which a failure should not have been surprising. I have no doubt that scores of pros will take millions of problem-free frames with 5DIIs in the years to come.”
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...IIreview.shtml

There is an interesting user's discussion about the 5D2 and moisture resistance on the dpreview Canon EOS-1D/1Ds/5D Forum:
http://search.dpreview.com/?forumid=...ure+resistance

Those of you that have a 1D3 are probably able to confirm the following about the 1D3 - "reliable - magnesium alloy body with over 70 dust and moisture resistant seals", and if so, please do so from your personal experience. It is one thing to read that the 1D3 is dust proof and moisture resistant; it is nice to hear it from photographer's experiences.

QUESTION For Canon Users: Those of you that have experience shooting in wet and freezing environments what bodies are you using; what "second" body would you take to Antarctica - 40D, 50D, ??

Thanks!

I've shot the Mark III in some pretty brutal conditions, and have even had it fall 5 feet onto a rock. It's never given me a problem. I take precautions in the rain, but it does very well when things get wet. As far as cold goes, the Mark III's battery doesn't take too much of a performance hit. The same can't be said for the 50D, which has a significantly reduced battery life.

Try this.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/s...&cat=15&page=1

Unlike Doug I've had problems with my MarkIII in the cold, shooting right beside him, but never the markIIN. The III would give errors and freeze up "no pun here". I would have to warm it up and start over again, the chance of no errors appearing about 50/50. That's my experience and it maybe a rare event for everyone else.
Good luck and have fun.
cheers
gary

the 1D series are weather sealed, I have used them in driving rain, snow and ice. the 5D bodies are not so they will not stand the punishment of those conditions that is why the 1Ds exists along with other reasons.

Lou

I have used my 5D and my MK2n in driving rain, sleet, blowing snow, both have had rain frozen on them etc etc. The only issue was with my 5D. All I did was warm it back up for 1 hour to dry out and off, plus it allowed me to thaw my fingers! I then went back into the 30 below weather we were having in a Nor'easter.

See here for some links as to what I have out them through:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=26365

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=26445

I know you asked about the Mk3. I do not have one. But if I could afford to get one, I would, without a second thought. I will still keep my other 2 bodies however. I did just send my 5D in for a repair. the large dial in the back by the LCD is broken. $200 for the repair, includes cleaning and adjustments. For all I have that body through, small change!

Thanks all!

The rumors are now hot and heavy that the 1D4 is about to be born:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/c...n_1D_MkIV.html

Fortunately, if the rumors are true, that might answer my concerns.

I have until November to make a final decision; I might wind up with a 1D3 and a 1D4 instead of the 5DX.

All that matters is keep havin' fun!

Cheers,

I've had great luck with a 1d3 and 1ds3 in very harsh, cold and wet conditions.
Mike

There is only one thing predictable about Canon rumors: they are notoriously wrong!

Regarding the 5D2 on the Antarctica trip, there is a lot of unknowns. One person said "all of the 5DIIs that died did so after being exposed to conditions in which a failure should not have been surprising."

So 1/4 of 26 failed, but all but 2 came back after drying out. So 2/26 or 7.7% failed. But we really don't know the exact conditions that caused failure. Did someone have their camera out and they got hit by a wave, for example? Regardless of 1Dx, 5Dx, xxD, one should protect gear in adverse conditions.

I have now had my 5D2 in heat, dust, rain, humidity, and hail (hail with ~50 mile per hour wind, two days ago) with no failures at all. That is stretching from the heat and dust of the Serengeti to humidity, ocean salt spray, waterfall spray and rain in Hawaii, to an impressive rain storm with hail in Canyonlands, Utah. But I put on a rain cover, whether 1Dx or 5Dx and try to reasonably protect my gear. My 1D2 has seen all that and more, including Colorado high country winter cold, to rain in Alaska, to ocean spray in New Zealand and Australia. I've never had any problem with any SLR/DSLR over the last 20+ years.

So I have to wonder about anyone needing to dry out their camera to get it to work again. Were they using the camera with no protection from the elements?

My Mark II worked fabulously in cold and wet weather. My MarkIIN died and the LCD fogged up after an hour of shooting on the side of the road in Nome. It came back to life after two days of drying in the room. It is hard to predict what can happen in bad weather....